david_taurus83

@parallaxerr

Have you had a response from TS Jon? I cant decide what to do myself now! Thinking is it better to order from a UK supplier? If so is the Starwave the one to go for? I got fed up of no observing last night so stripped my imaging gear down to use the WO 71. Ironic how it fogged up outside last night, just like my indecision of which scope to buy!

4 hours ago, parallaxerr said:

Clearly not enough room in that box. You can see where the focus knob has been rubbing against the side. They need to reevaluate their packaging imo

I would send it back Jon. It's not like theres a screw loose that can be simply tightened. Damage of any kind shouldn't be accepted. £££ spent so should be as expected. I'd return it and send them a link to this thread to show that the eyes of SGL are observing and judging their customer service accordingly!

Wounded Jon! I really hope it goes against the grain of TS's service as I really still want one myself. Are you getting a replacement or has this put you off?

WOW!!

I'm impressed by the speed of delivery!

Which one did you go for Jon? With all the different links and references I've lost track! Is it the TS one for €625? Same one I'm looking at?

I've had no response to my email either. Because of that, I'd be inclined to buy the TS scope. Not because of glass type, but the lack of clear information and question dodging! Poor customer service imo

@steppenwolfThanks Steve!

I need to sell more stuff before Brexit lol

Yes! So do I! I'm trying to find a good all rounder as well. I'm selling my 200p as it's hardly grab 'n go and the 420mm length WO I use for imaging is a bit lacking for visual. So around 700mm focal length I reckon is about right and I want no bigger than an AZ4 mount!

1 hour ago, rhw1967 said:

Did anyone that contacted AA about the Ascent 102ED F7 get any info back at all ? 

Nope. No response though I do seem to remember a thread a while back where someone was struggling to get hold of them. If RVO stock them might get an answer off Adam?

16 minutes ago, John said:

Are you interested in the ED102 Ascent model or the ED102-R ? - the latter states FPL-53 in the blurb.

 

The Ascent.

Thanks for the advice on the alt az mounts. Looks like the AZ4 is the one to go for. The steel tripod is a no brainer. Just need to stretch my own budget now. Seems 100mm F7 is the the one to go for. I messaged AA yesterday to see if they can confirm the type of glass used in the Starwave 102ED

1 hour ago, parallaxerr said:

This is/was the dilemma John. The balance is not likely to change, however going bigger than the AZ4 is a definite no-no for the foreseeable future. Choosing the 102ED is as much about compromising size & weight as it is aperture.

I did look at the Altair 110ED, but it seems their refractor weights are on an exponential scale, even for a small increase in aperture.

First step is to take delivery of the AZ4 tomorrow and see how the 80mm F7.5 achro fits, that should give me an idea on how a bigger scope will sit.

What is the main difference between the AZ4 and AZ5? I was thinking about the 5 myself?

Long overdue review on this but the weather has been terrible. I seen a fellow SGL'r recommend this neat auto focusing unit and I couldn't help treating myself to an early Christmas present. I ordered the AF1 unit and the DC Hub late one Sunday night and early on the following Monday morning I had an email from Pavle thanking me for the order and that it would be prepared and shipped within a day or so. Any questions I had were replied to promptly and I was kept up to date with the progress of the order's preparation and shipping. 7 days later the package was received and I fitted straight away. The supplied bracket and it's pre drilled holes were a perfect fit for my William Optics GT71. Unfortunately, the supplied belt was a bit too tight upon fitting. I contacted Pavle to let him know. It wasn't a big issue as I had found a similar belt on eBay with a couple of extra teeth and would try that instead. Nonetheless, Pavle offered to send a revised housing for the auto focuser which would allow some adjustability to slacken the belt. This was offered free of charge. In the end I didn't need the revised housing as I was able to utilise the longer belt. I had to wait 6 weeks until I could finally test it! I only use APT at the moment and it connected to the focuser without any problems. With regards to auto focusing, I have had mixed results with APT. I believe I have some backlash in my focuser and I need to spend some time ironing this out. For the time being, I am happy to stick the bahtinov mask on and focus remotely from indoors. This process took considerably longer when I was focusing manually. The DC Hub is also a nice compact unit which sits just under my USB hub and has enabled me to tidy up my cables somewhat.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the unit. It's light, compact, well made and has considerably shortened the time I spend on focusing. Pavle has been a pleasure to deal with and I wish him all the best with his business!

David

1 minute ago, MilwaukeeLion said:

 

 

Here kitty kitty, oh no..not a kitty!  It seems very relaxed around you, cool images.

It didn't know I was there!

Had a visitor last week while imaging IC405.

No more worrying about dead batteries

Laptop issue it is then. I thought all USB3 was backwards compatible with 2.0. Not the case it seems. Hope you get it resolved. Please post back up if you do.

Have you tried a different PC just to rule out the camera? Like I said, I've not had any issues myself. Perhaps an email to ZWO if you can't solve it?

Hi. I have a laptop with both usb 2 and 3. Never had an issue with my ASI120 on either? Also, with my ASI1600 which is USB3 it works no probs on USB2. Even the USB hub on the ASI1600 is only USB2 and the 120 is plugged into that. What makes you think you need to update it?

Hopefully the final piece of my imaging setup.

Should just take 3 second exposures if that's what you've set! It should show up as a greyed out preview as it's likely to be way over exposed during the day.

The quest for round stars continues..